I find the story of how we met to be very unique for today’s dating world. We were lucky to both be studying abroad in Athens, Greece at the same school in the same term. The very first day we arrived, the school separated all 100 students into groups to tour the surrounding neighborhood. And while I was talking to my friends that came along from Union, Ann decided to randomly laugh at what is still assumed to be a not very funny joke I made. From there introductions were made and we went on our tour. And not 5 min later, I’d already forgotten her name…. I’m quite terrible with names. However, throughout the tour, we chatted and exchanged numbers. That night, I went out to a bar with my roommates and some friends and decided to see if Ann wanted to tag along. Keep in mind it was already very late and she was half ready for bed. But she came on down to join us at the cafe turned bar for a drink… 30 min later when we’d already moved on to the next bar. Me, very excited to see her again and anxious she’d be upset finding no one there, bought a shot at the next, pirate themed bar to get the WiFi and have her meet us again. This time she arrived and we all spent the whole night getting to know one another. Now my favorite part is that night I asked if she wanted to get breakfast before the next days orientations. She agreed and so at the crack of dawn I sat at our now favorite cafe, Kekkos, all alone for about an hour before heading to orientation very defeated. Little did I know that Ann was very much not a morning person and had slept through her numerous alarms. She made it up to me however and spent the entirety of that afternoon exploring Athens, just the two of us. (Moral of the story: never ask Ann to doing anything at 1 am for the next morning ❤️) And so before the end of the first week of our study abroad, we had already started dating. I asked Ann to be my girlfriend while we were on a trip to Delphi and more than 6 years later, here we are.

When l first got to Greece for my semester abroad, I promised myself I’d say yes to every opportunity I got; every invitation, get together, or optional class, I didn’t want to miss out on anything. This is how I said yes four times. On my first day in Athens, the program I was in held a tour of the neighborhood for everyone, The starting point was right next to the cafeteria; and a crowd had already started to form. I stood on the outskirts, and I remember seeing a cute guy, and overhearing a joke he made. I can’t for the life of me remember the joke, but it made me laugh loud enough that he turned around. We made eye contact, he stuck out his hand and went “Hi, I’m Tommy.” I shook it, and went “Hi, I’m Ann, nice to meet you.” I found out he went to Union college, and that’s how he knew a few other people in the crowd. He seemed nice enough, but our tour had started, and it was time to start exploring Athens. We both started in the front of the crowd with our Professor, but we kept getting distracted just talking to each other, until we found ourselves all the way in the back of the group, and realized we spend more than half the tour just chatting! He asked for my number, and I gave it to him, I figured he was just being nice and trying to meet people, just like me. We talked a bit more, and I went back to my own place for the night. At around midnight, I got a text- Tommy’s friends had decided to check out a local bar, and he asked me to come along. I was in bed. Makeup off. Pjs on. I looked at his text and I thought: “Well, I promised myself, and he is cute”. So I said my first yes. I finally found the bar after about half an hour wandering around Athens, and ended up in a corner with Tommy, behind all his friends. Before I knew it, it had been about three hours of nonstop talking with this guy. He walked me back to my apartment, and asked if I wanted to grab breakfast together the next morning. I said yes, a second time. By the time we said goodbye, it was about 3 in the morning. I had forgotten to mention I am not a morning person… and I slept through our breakfast date… I woke up at 10:00 and immediately panicked, I had left this poor sweet guy hanging, waiting for me! I felt so terrible, but somehow, Tommy found it in him to forgive me for standing him up, and our breakfast date turned into an “explore Athens” date. Tommy was the navigator, and I, who had just aced a course about the history of Athenian monuments, spent the day ranting and raving about every ancient structure we passed by. We sat and talked for a while longer, deeper talks, really getting to know each other this time. I think he enjoyed my little tour, but he might’ve been lying just to talk to me more. That night, there was a party at the president of the programs house. I still remember how he looked at me from across the garden, like I was the only person there. My roommate asked me, “Sooo… what’s with you and Tommy?” I thought for a minute, “I dunno yet, but I think I like him” She laughed, “I think he’s into you.” That’s where we kissed for the first time, in the rose garden, hidden from everyone else. A week later, we were in Delphi. We had seen the site of the oracle, walked around this beautiful town on the side of a mountain, and back at the hotel, Tommy said “do I really have to ask you to be my girlfriend?” I blinked. “Yes, you do” He laughed, “Fine, will you be my girlfriend?” And I said my third yes. Five years later, at the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum in Boston, in front of the Roman mosaics and sculptures, the boy I fell in love with in Athens asked me to marry him. And for the fourth time, I said yes.